This type of pack is commonly encountered in the agri-food industry, in particular for packaging bottles or beverage cans.
A standard pack comprises a group of articles wrapped in a heat-shrunk plastics film. A group of articles such as bottles has numerous raised portions and hollow spaces. Due to its elasticity, the film clings to the projections and partially fills the hollow spaces between the articles. This characteristic of the film makes it possible to ensure good stability of the group of articles, in particular during the various handling procedures to which the pack is subjected.
Nevertheless, this elasticity proves to be a drawback when the articles are unwrapped: it is necessary to tear the film to gain access to the first articles, then to tear it further to gain access to the subsequent articles.
A proposed solution to this problem is disclosed in the European patent EP 717 712, which describes a pack containing a group of bottles enclosed in a heat-shrunk plastics film, provided with precut lines arranged between two successive rows of bottles, to allow the easy opening of the pack and the separation of the rows of bottles.
However, as the bottles are removed from the pack in pairs, with a residue of film tightly wrapped around each pair removed, to gain access to the articles of each pair removed it is necessary systematically to tear the remaining film. This solution to the problem disclosed above is therefore only partial.